Key Points:

• Clara Pratte and Jonathon Hill are running together for two seats on the Corporation Commission in 2026

• Republican Commissioners Kevin Thompson and Nick Myers up for reelection and  facing primary challengers

• Democrats have faced an uphill battle in Corporation Commission elections in recent years

Democrats officially announced their slate of candidates to challenge two Republican incumbents on the Arizona Corporation Commission.

Clara Pratte and Jonathon Hill will run as a team to unseat Commissioners Kevin Thompson and Nick Myers in November 2026. Both tout lowering costs for utility customers as their campaign focus, while also pledging to increase transparency, expand rural representation and invest in renewable energy if elected. 

“Democrats get utility bills. Republicans get utility bills. Independents get utility bills,” Hill said in a statement. “No matter who you are, this Commission has allowed your rates to skyrocket every year, and I’m tired of it. I’m running because Arizona needs someone to put everyday people first.” 

Two other Democrats, Derrick Espadas and Vincent Salazar, have also filed statements of interest to run in the August 2026 primary, but neither has made a formal campaign announcement. If Pratte and Hill succeed next August, they will face the winners of a contentious Republican primary, in which state Reps. David Marshall and Ralph Heap are challenging Thompson and Myers.

Hill ran for the Corporation Commission in 2024 on a slate with two other Democrats vying for three open seats. All three lost to Republican incumbent Commissioner Lea Marquez Peterson and newcomers Rachel Walden and Rene Lopez — cementing a 5-0 Republican majority on the Commission. 

Democrats have struggled in Corporation Commission elections in recent years, even as Democrats in other races succeeded. In 2022, former Commissioner Sandra Kennedy and now-Sen. Lauren Kuby lost their bids against Thompson and Myers, despite wins for Democrats in the races for governor, secretary of state and attorney general. 

In 2020, only one of three Democratic candidates running, Anna Tovar, was able to secure a seat on the Commission. Tovar decided not to run for reelection in 2024. 

Hill is a researcher at Arizona State University, where he works in the Mars Space Flight Facility. He has a doctorate in geological sciences and a master’s in aerospace engineering, both of which he says make him uniquely qualified to serve on the Corporation Commission. 

Pratte is a member of the Navajo Nation and currently runs a professional services firm. She is also the executive director and chair of Navajo Power, a public benefit corporation that promotes renewable energy development on tribal land. 

Pratte also has extensive experience working for the federal government and tribal governments. She worked at the Small Business Administration and U.S. Department of Commerce under three U.S. presidents. 

Both Hill and Pratte have pledged to run as Clean Elections candidates, forgoing funding from political action committees and special interest groups.